Other Retailers

Specialty, big box stores, department stores, warehouse clubs, and e-commerce retail businesses face expanding risks given changing consumer behaviors. Working with Marsh’s risk specialists, you can more effectively manage risk so that your doors stay open and your growth plans don’t need to be shelved.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated consumer trends that already required large and specialty retailers to rethink their customer experience.

As more consumers shop online and store traffic slows, retailers are exploring new ways to engage customers and create memorable, convenient, and safe shopping experiences. Growing demand for options to buy online and pick up or return goods to local stores is leading retailers to revisit not only their business models, but also their supply chains, and how associates engage with customers.

Retail businesses need to continuously adapt their strategies to respond to their customers wanting the optimal combination of cost, choice, and convenience. Between greater use of technology for online ordering, inventory management, and fulfillment services, these businesses face a complex set of risks. Our team of risk specialists has extensive experience and solutions to enable physical and online retailers like yours to minimize the risks you face in your daily operations.

Property Risk Management

07/30/2021

Property risk comes in many different forms, and proactively minimizing exposures can protect companies when the worst happens. Our specialists can assist you with identifying your risks, analyzing and prioritizing them, and optimizing your property insurance and risk management program.

Casualty

07/30/2021

Casualty losses are a significant driver of total cost of risk for most organizations. Spanning multiple disciplines and specialties, our liability risk specialists can help you analyze your exposures, identify and prioritize cost reduction opportunities, and optimize your casualty insurance and risk management program.

Cyber Risk

07/30/2021

Given the complexities and pervasiveness of cyber risk, organizations can benefit from experienced risk advice when managing their exposures. We can help you assess and quantify your cyber risk, prepare for and respond to cyberattacks, transfer your risk, and build lasting risk management and resilience.

Business Interruption & Supply Chain

07/30/2021

Business interruption resulting from natural disasters, fires, supply chain failures, and even cyberattacks can pose significant financial losses for companies operating in the global business environment. Our innovative insurance and risk management strategies can help you understand your exposures and build greater resilience.

Retail Product Liability Coverage

07/18/2021

Marsh Supplier Select℠ is a digitally optimized program that provides product liability insurance to cover retailers/wholesalers third-party suppliers.

woman accepting groceries box from delivery man at home

Article

Food and beverage risk managers can play a strategic role with the C-suite

08/30/2021

Woman hand hold supermarket shopping cart with abstract blur organic fresh fruits and vegetable on shelves in grocery store defocused bokeh light background

Article

Strengthening business resilience and continuity for retail, restaurant, food and beverage companies

04/28/2021

FAQs

Large and specialty retailers rely heavily on technology for a range of operations, from online ordering, to inventory and supply chain management systems, to point-of-sale systems. Each of these networks and systems is vulnerable to disruption through accidents or malicious cyberattacks.

In the retail environment, downtime in any aspect of the business can be costly, and especially in e-commerce. Data breaches can result in business disruptions that severely compromise the digital aspects of your business’s physical supply chain and the complex network of technology companies involved in the delivery of digital products.

To mitigate and manage your technology risks, you should work with experienced risk specialists to assess your technology exposures and build and test effective resilience plans.

Specialty, big box stores, department stores, warehouse clubs, and e-commerce businesses face risks to property, people, and their strategic plans. In addition to technology and cyber risks, some of the largest risks in this sector are:

Property damage: Fire, flood, windstorm, and other risks arising from stores' and warehouses’ locations and building design can cause massive losses. Large retail businesses devote significant square footage to display goods for sale and to keep inventories close to hand.
Business interruption: Supply chains for large and specialty retailers, and e-commerce businesses, can be highly complicated and exposed to disruption from many sources.
People risks: From moving goods to store shelves to curbside delivery, injuries and illnesses involving employees, customers, and other people can account for significant direct and indirect financial losses. Workers' compensation costs, wage-and-hour lawsuits, and other liability exposures are just some of the numerous people risks facing large and specialty retailers.
Competition: The retail sector is crowded with competing businesses. Competition increases pressure on margins, employee retention, product and service offerings, and customer trust and loyalty. Careful management of operational and people risks is critical to sustain competitiveness and remain resilient.

Consumer demand for same-day delivery is a major challenge for large, specialty, and e-commerce retailers to solve the "last mile" problem. Getting goods from the warehouse or store to the purchaser quickly creates supply chain and inventory management issues that can add pressure to already thin retail margins.

Trends in buying online and picking up goods in-store, or buying online and returning goods, is turning retail stores into fulfillment centers and reshaping the shopping experience. These shifts introduce new risks to retailers and require businesses like yours to rethink how they attract, serve, and retain customers.

Retail businesses should think through their "last mile" delivery exposures with Marsh's retail risk specialists, so they can make sure to mitigate risks and improve their resilience.

Other Retailers